Clayton at 5 Years

 Our baby is FIVE! The fifth birthday has seemed like a BIG milestone for every kid, but Clayton turning 5 seems REALLY big...for the first time ever we have zero kids under 5. Our baby is turning into a bigger kid!  Clayton is really such a joy in every way that it makes it okay that time is passing so quickly as he grows up.  This is the child that definitely keeps me the most on my toes, the one who I’m never quiet sure what is going to come out of his mouth, and but also one I can count on for endless silliness and snuggles.

There are so many things I want to remember about those sweet boy at this age, but first I want to try to do a quick recap of all the big things from his past year.  One of the biggest changes was that in August he started preschool for the first time ever.  He only goes 2 mornings a week for 4 hours each day, but it has been the perfect amount for him to get some social time with other 4/5 year olds (not just playing with his older siblings all day), learn some, have fun, and learn to be away from me.  Clayton had gotten used to being away from me on Wednesday nights for kids choir and church and Sunday mornings when he went to Sunday School, but when Covid hit in March all that stopped so it was a big adjustment when he had to be away from me regularly when school started in August.  He got teary at drop off for a little bit, but his teacher said he always got happy quickly after I left.  As he got in a routine, though, he adjusted and now says school is AWESOME! His favorite friends from school are Jackson, Andy, Owen, and Vivian.  His favorite day is Thursday because it’s chapel and music day at preschool.  

Clayton continues to do really well on our homeschool days this year too.  We have been using the BOB Books curriculum for this school year and he loves his workbook and the books paired with it.  He also does Reading Eggs and Math Seeds. On homeschool days he work in all three of those, and then we rotate in other crafts/writing practice/flash cards, etc.  His favorite thing right now is reading. He’s starting to be able to read some of his easy readers and he’s SO proud. He also loves his flash cards with sight words on them, even though he fakes irritation when I tell him it’s time to do sight words.  For the longest time we thought he was left handed, but he definitely writes with his right hand.  Although, he bats and pitches and golfs as a leftie.  

Another big change for Clayton during this past year was learning to swim. He can now swim in the shallow or deep end of the pool with no floats-just swimming. And he’s like a little fish.  He’s a strong swimmer and loves being able to keep up with the bigs.

This year he also learned to ride his bike with no training wheels! We were headed out on a walk one night last summer and he asked if we could take them off and let him try.  John took them off and Clayton took off riding. It was so great! And he was so proud of himself.  Then for Christmas he got a dirt bike, so he’s great at balancing on that too!

Clayton told us he wanted to play baseball again this spring.  He is playing on the A’s and is a good hitter! The season just started, but I’ve already been impressed. 

Clayton loves the beach and traveling in general. He always asks if we can go on a trip and stay in a hotel somewhere. He may be our little world traveler one day. Here are other random things that I want to remember about our sweet Mr. Baby as he’s turning 5-he loves legos any and all legos, he can build super hard for his age lego sets on his own and does awesome!, he’s gotten a lot better about making his bed and cleaning his room and doing his chores, but a messy room doesn’t seem to bother him at all (we are working on this), he loves to pack a backpack of entertainment no matter where we are going, he says some of the funniest, most blunt, accurate, hilarious things, he loves the dinosaur playground, altitude, top golf, riding bikes around the neighborhood lake, he wants to play soccer in the fall and basketball in the winter and baseball again next spring, he absolutely cannot wait to be at the same school as his older siblings next year, he loves treats/candy/sugar/special drinks(Orange Fanta and Sprite).

Clayton at one of his favs-the dinosaur playground and duck pond.

He likes to help bake.

He’s a “base baller”

The last night of putting him to bed as a 4 year old.

He’s become a great little hiker! This was on a 4.5 mile hike that he did like a champ!

He got his own pet fish this year-a betta fish that he named Sting Ray.

Thankfully lots of people remind him to feed Sting Ray because he is still learning to remember to take care of the fish.

He has this silly, sweet thing he loves to do-on the first day of school we took a van selfie before he went in to school and he has requested one EVERY.SINGLE.SCHOOL.DAY since then. I love it.

He wanted a scary pumpkin carved at Halloween.

He loves the natural playground at Hay’s Nature Preserve.

He hopped on this horse swing and sang loudly “I’m gonna take my horse to the Old Town Road, Gonna Ride Til I can’t No More.”

Another hike that he did great on.

 Clayton loves to show his fun personality in every picture.

He was thrilled that the family went along with his super hero love for Halloween and all dressed as superhero’s. He was, of course, spider man.

Look at that pose!

These pictures are out of order, but here’s another baseball pic.

He absolutely loves his pup!

And Duke loves him back.

I love that Duke obeys Clayton’s commands.

Clayton ran his first race this year! He ran a 2 mile race on New Year’s Day and got his first medal.

One night Clayton was in need of a haircut and I put it in a ponytail. His hair is so stick straight that it just stood right up. He thought it was hilarious as did we all.

Another picture from one of his faves-the dinosaur playground.

Clayton after church on Valentine’s Day.

Another van selfie before walking Clayton into school 2 mornings after his birthday.  He was excited to wear his birthday shirt to school “so everyone can remember I’m 5.”

Love those big brown eyes and sweet grin!

Well, I could go on and on and on about this sweet, hilarious, kind, smart, clever, boy that we get to enjoy every day, but I’ll stop here.  We are so very thankful for our wonderful Mr. Baby. We love you, Clayton!